What We Loved This Week: Chuck Klosterman, ‘Jerusalem Syndrome’ and Underdog Nations

Travel Blog • World Hum • 08.22.08 | 5:25 PM ET

World Hum contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.

Michael Yessis
The beach. I took a few days off this week back home in California, which coincided with beautiful conditions: clear blue skies, divebombing pelicans, water an inviting 73 degrees. I walked along the strand, bodysurfed, stretched out on the sand. This afternoon we’ll close out the trip by taking our son Owen to dip his feet in the Pacific for the first time.

David Farley
One million tourists descend upon Jerusalem every year. One hundred of those people, however, are suddenly and unexpectedly overwhelmed by a feeling that they have a larger purpose; that they’re the Messiah. It’s called the Jerusalem Syndrome and has caught the attention of a few psychologists and scholars. Some of these “Messiahs” make a slit in a bed sheet from their hotel, drape it over themselves and wander down to Ben Yehuda, one of the holy city’s main pedestrian drags, and start preaching. A few weeks later, they snap out of it, shed the sheet, and go back where they came from. I’m headed to Jerusalem soon and can’t wait to see if I have a sudden desire to don a sheet and try to save humanity.

Eva Holland
Even though I’m on the road, I’ve been catching as much Olympic coverage as I can. I always love rooting for the athletes from lesser-known, less-favored countries, and this week, my Inspiring Underdog Nation of choice has been Jamaica. I’ve loved watching Usain Bolt and Co. tear up the track in the sprint events. Retired American sprinter Michael Johnson is an old nemesis of Canadian track fans, so watching Bolt take down his longstanding world record in the 200m final was a nice touch, too.

Jim Benning
The Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference in Corte Madera, California, which ended Sunday. I wrote about a few of the highlights Monday, but working back here at home today, I realize that what I loved most about it was simply hanging out with so many people—friends and new acquaintances alike—who share a passion for travel and writing.

Joanna Kakissis
I just settled into Boulder, Colorado, where I’ll be living for the year as a Ted Scripps fellow at the University of Colorado’s Center for Environmental Journalism. It’s about as opposite of Athens, Greece, as it gets—it’s small, green, clean and everyone here is so fit and healthy that even the lithe Athenian women who chain smoke to stay thin would be jealous of them. No bribing these folks with homemade baklava! As I walked through the Boulder Farmer’s Market on Wednesday afternoon, marveling at the peaches, chard, peppers and gluten-free brownies and stopping to play with several well-groomed puppies, I reveled in a city that glows with its love for the great outdoors. Now if I could only work up the nerve to run with all the athletes here.

Frank Bures
A few months ago, in his Esquire column, Chuck Klosterman, the ever astute observer of American life, let drop that he was living in Germany, teaching at the University of Leipzig (video below). As a result, his columns have taken on an interesting tone: He’s written about how American culture is perceived in Germany (they feel it doesn’t really exist), about Germany’s best rapper, Sido and this month, about being out of the bubble of America. “What I see,” he writes, looking back from Germany, “is a relatively static society that consciously confuses itself through media and interprets that confusion for progress.”